If Trump wins he’ll demand new Ukrainian president – Portnykov

He shared this view on Espreso.

"I don’t want us to live in some fantasy world. If Donald Trump becomes the U.S. president, he’ll do whatever he feels like. This whole idea that we’ll just ignore his talks with Putin and keep fighting without paying attention to them — it’s a bit childish. We’ll need to put in a lot of effort to stop his plans, and even then, we probably won’t succeed. There’s a real danger that things will end up exactly how Trump and Putin agree. And even more than that — if Trump wins, I guarantee he’ll demand a change of the Ukrainian president. He won’t call Zelenskyy to convince him of anything. Trump will say Zelenskyy allowed this war to happen, that he needs to go, and he’ll name who should take over,” Portnykov said.

The journalist stressed that Trump will insist Ukraine follows through with his agreements with Putin.

“Of course, he’ll also mention the Verkhovna Rada. He’ll decide who should be Speaker so that person agrees with whatever Trump and Putin sign. Or he’ll push for rigged elections with a candidate he approves of. And even then, Putin won’t stop the war. He needs chaos here,” he added.

• On October 18, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that the outcome of the U.S. presidential election will be crucial for Ukraine’s future and its NATO membership ambitions.